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The background of Umar ibn Hafsun has been the subject of conflicting claims. His contemporary, the poet Ibn Abd Rabbih (860-940) referred to him as a Sawada, a descendant of black Africans. Writing a century later, Ibn Hayyan recorded a pedigree for Umar ibn Hafsan, tracing his descent to a great-grandfather, Ja'far ibn Salim, who had converted to Islam and settled in the Ronda area of the Málaga province in southern Spain. The pedigree then traces back several additional generations to one Count Marcellus (or perhaps Frugelo), son of Alfonso, apparently a ChristianVisigoth. This pedigree was copied by later historians, including Ibn Idhari, Ibn Khatib, and Ibn Khaldun, as well as the A'lam Malaga (History of Malaga) begun by ibn 'Askar and completed by Ibn Khamis, and more recent authors such as Dozy, in his Histoire des Mussulmans d'Espagne (History of the Muslims of Spain).[1] However, Wasserstein recently concluded that the pre-conversion portion of this pedigree was probably invented by Umar himself. Conde in 1820 indicated that Umar ibn Hafsun was "a man of pagan origin, of obscure and unknown ancestry."[2] Regardless, his family owned lands in Iznate, Málaga where ibn Hafsun grew up.[3]

Ibn Hafsun was born around 850 in the mountains near Parauta, in what is now Málaga province. A wild youth, he had a very violent temper and was involved in a number of disputes, even a homicide around the year 879. He joined a group of brigands, was captured by the wali (governor) of Málaga, who merely imposed a fine (having not been informed of the homicide). The governor subsequently lost his post. Ibn Hafsun fled the jurisdiction to Morocco[4] where he worked briefly as an apprentice tailor[5] or stonemason.[citation needed]

He soon returned to Andalucia, albeit as an outlaw, and joined the bandits who were in rebellion against the caliphate, wherein he soon rose to a leadership position.[6] Originally he settled in the ruins of the old Bobastro (Arabic : بُبَشْتَر) castle.[7] He rebuilt the castle, and fortified the nearby town of Ardales, Malaga. He rallied disaffected muwallads and mozárabs to the cause, playing off resentment at the unfair, heavy taxation and humiliating treatment they were receiving at the hands of Abd ar-Rahman and his successors.[8] He acquired castles and lands in a wide area, not only in Malaga, but including portions of the provinces of Cádiz, Granada known then as Elvira, Jaén, and Seville. By 883 he had become the leader of the rebels in the provinces to the south and west of the Emirate of Cordoba. The year before, in 882, he is said to have fought the Emir in a battle in which ally García Íñiguez of Pamplona was killed. About 885, in order to be more centrally located and quicker to respond to external threats, ibn Hafsun moved his headquarters to the town of Poley, which is now known as Aguilar de la Frontera.

After ibn Hafsun’s defeat by the forces of Abdallah ibn Muhammad at the battle of Poley in 891, he moved his headquarters back to Bobastro. In 898, Lubb ibn Muhammad, of the Banu Qasi, was marching an army to support Umar when the death of his father at Zaragoza forced Lubb to abandon the campaign. In 899, Ibn Hafsun renounced Islam and became a Christian, being christened as Samuel.[3] His motivations seems to have been opportunistic,[9] hoping to obtain military support from Alfonso III of Leon, who had met with indifference overtures by ibn Hafsun on behalf of Ibn Marwan. His conversion proved a major political mistake which although helping to attract significant Mozarab support, cost him the support of most of his Mullawad followers. He also built at Bobastro the Iglesia Mozarabe (Mozarab Church).

Ibn Hafsun remained a serious threat to Córdoba, even though in 910 he offered allegiance to the Fatimid rulers of north Africa,[10] and when Abd-ar-Rahman III became Emir of Cordoba in 912 he instigated a policy of annual Spring offensives against ibn Hafsun, using mercenary troops. In 913 they captured the city of Seville, and by the end of 914 had captured 70 of ibn Hafsun’s castles. In 916, he joined forces with the Umayyads in a campaign against northern Christian kingdoms, the reasons for this are obscure, as is whether it was done in contrition[3] or merely as an expedient compromise. For a while, even taxes were paid to the Umayyads.[3]

Ibn Hafsun died in 917 and was buried in the Iglesia Mozarabe. His coalition then crumbled, and while his sons Ja'far, 'Abd-ar-Rahman and Hafs tried to continue the resistance, they eventually fell to 'Abd-ar-Rahman III's plots and armies. The last, Hafs, surrendered Bobastro in 928 and afterward fought with the Umayyad army in Galicia.[3] With Bobastro's fall, the mortal remains of ibn Hafsun and his slain sons were exhumed by the emir and posthumously crucified outside the Great Mosque of Córdoba.[11]

^Some sources suggest that he received significant help from his uncle Mohadir. "Omar Ben Hafsun"

^The exact site of Bobastro is debated by modern archaeologists, although the claim has been made that it is Las Mesas de Villaverde, in the Sierra de la Pizarra mountain range near Ronda in the northern part of the province of Malaga (Ann Christys, Christians in al-Andalus, p. 103).

Marín-Guzmán, Roberto (1994) "Rebellions and Political Fragmentation of al-Andalus: A Study of the Revolt of 'Umar Ibn Hafsun in the Period of the Amir 'Abd Allah (888–912)" Islamic Studies 33(4): pp. 419–473

Marín-Guzmán, Roberto (2006) "Political Turmoil in al-Andalus in the Time of the Amir 'Abd Allah (888-912): Study of the revolt of Daysum Ibn Ishaq, lord of Murcia and Lorca and the role of 'Umar Ibn Hafsun" The Muslim world 96(1): pp. 145–174